


Heartbeat of A Dying Man

by AuthenticAussie



Series: Semi-Related Shenanigans [3]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-14
Updated: 2014-07-14
Packaged: 2018-02-08 14:52:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1945305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuthenticAussie/pseuds/AuthenticAussie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zoro discovers that vampires have heartbeats, and that if he ever wants to get a concussion, all he has to do is sleep with Luffy in a single bed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heartbeat of A Dying Man

_Kuina!_ The name rested heavy on Zoro’s tongue, but even as he tried to frame the letters in his mouth, they refused to move, clogging his throat with their weight. His bones felt like they were made of metal, and he the ten year old weakling that couldn’t lift their burden.

Trying to drag his muscles forwards, fighting every inch of his body while he did so, Zoro forced himself to take a step, and then another, trying to reach his childhood friend before she tripped and fell.

He knew he wouldn’t.

He never did.

The dream never changed – but this time it did. Instead of Kuina’s familiar face, shock frozen forever on her features, he saw Luffy’s bright grin, lighting up even further when the vampire noticed the swordsman.

Still, Zoro couldn’t move his body. His vocal chords refused to work, and panic rested heavy in his stomach. He tried to stretch out his hand, tried to warn his friend to _move_ but even as he did so he could see Luffy take a step, and like every other time he’d had this dream, the stair was just a millimetre to short, causing Luffy to trip.

And then he was falling, falling, falling, the ground dropping out from beneath him and Luffy a hair’s breadth away but unreachable all the same, a glass wall between them both that Zoro couldn’t pass.

Luffy started fading away in bits and pieces, first his strawhat, and then his hands and knees, parts of him vanishing to the darkness as Zoro tried to get closer and save the vampire from being taken from him.

Only his grin was left, a floating Cheshire smile that he tried to pretend was Luffy smiling at him in the dark, but even as he watched it started to flicker. The grin that Zoro was so enamoured with; Luffy’s wide, open grin, never faltering for even the worst of times and _always_ _there-_

It faded away, leaving him all alone.

“ _Luffy!_ ” He cried to the night air, waking up to a pressing weight on his chest and clammy, sweaty skin.

“Zoro!” Luffy shouted back, and Zoro barely had time for a ‘what the fuck’ moment before Luffy was in his face, worry in his gaze.

“ _Ah_!” Zoro yelped, letting out a very (un)manly scream and accidently banging heads with the vampire, who pulled back, dazed.

_“What the hell Luffy!?”_

“Zoro, look,” Luffy said, refusing to fall over or move even as his eyes unfocused for a moment, and he rested Zoro’s hand against his chest. Unsure, exactly, of what the vampire was _thinking,_ (although the weight on his body was certainly explained by Luffy’s position) Zoro tried to reconcile his waking and dreaming thoughts, only the last vestiges of a panic-filled nightmare dripping through his mind in short images.

He could just remember that it was one of the ones he usually had about Kuina’s death, but that certainly didn’t explain why he’d awoken with Luffy’s name on his lips – or why Luffy was even there at all, actually.

Forcing himself to pay attention to reality again, Zoro stared at where Luffy was keeping his hand trapped against his bare chest. “What, exactly, am I looking for?” Zoro asked dryly, raising an eyebrow and trying to tug his hand away (preferably to use it to move Luffy _off_ him; the little shit was heavy.) but Luffy refused to relinquish his grip.

“I’m still here, Zoro.” Zoro had been sure that Luffy only had two volumes; loud and louder. To hear him speak so quietly put a stop to any more sarcastic comments, at least for the moment. Even Luffy’s tone had changed from his usual laughing speech, and now he was speaking in a serious, firm manner, refusing to be distracted. “Promise.”

And Zoro wasn’t sure that vampires even _had_ heartbeats, but he could feel Luffy’s, a steady and quiet pulse that he could just barely sense through his fingertips.

Feeling his own pounding heart rate slow incrementally as the moments dragged on, his meditation techniques helping him calm down, Zoro proceeded to sit up, Luffy happily gathering himself in the swordsman’s lap. The vampire’s serious nature had vanished into the air as soon as Zoro had calmed, leaving the green-haired human to wonder if it had even been there at all, and Luffy’s usual grin – while a little dim – was still back on his features.

Zoro refused to admit how comforting that smile was.

Luffy was about to disentangle himself from their position, ready to go back to his own bed, as he (probably? Possibly? Zoro was never sure with this guy,) realised that Zoro probably wanted to get some more sleep, but before he could realise he was doing it, Zoro’s palm dug in slightly to the vampire’s chest, trying to hold him still.

Flushing in embarrassment, Zoro quickly pulled his hand off Luffy’s chest, but Luffy’s light laughter and hand chased his own, tangling up their fingers and pressing their palms together.

“Can I sleep in here tonight, Zoro?” The vampire asked innocently, as though he weren’t asking for Zoro’s own benefit, as though he weren’t asking it to save Zoro’s pride, and Zoro felt a grateful sort of relief build in his chest that Luffy could understand him even without words.

“I don’t care,” the swordsman muttered, tugging his hand out of Luffy’s grasp again, and the dark-haired boy rolled off him with a happy laugh, stealing the other side of Zoro’s tiny single bed and half the blankets along with it.

Lying back down and curling his arm under his head (as Luffy had stolen the pillow and Zoro wasn’t one to argue and get it back, not when Luffy was already giving him a favour,) he mumbled, “G’night Luffy.”

“Goodnight Zoro! Sweet dreams,” he chirped back, and even though the single bed was way too small for them, and Luffy’s back was icy cold and pressed against his own, leaving very little space for his arms, Zoro found he didn’t mind to much, the comfort of having another body pressed close sending him off to sleep soon after.

(Zoro woke up at around five the next morning, when Luffy proceeded to kick him and then shove him off the bed. He resolved not to sleep in the same bed as Luffy anymore, just to save his skull from getting slammed into the bedside table. One concussion was enough for the month, thank you very much.)

**Author's Note:**

> oops?  
> Naw, I had a line from one of the ones after this that didn't make sense so...  
> Ta-da!  
> tbh developing relationships are hard. That's why I'm skipping so much of it //strained laughter


End file.
